Components

Compliance Dates

• July 1, 2023- The director shall appoint all members to the advisory board. The director shall appoint the members for staggered three-year terms, and may reappoint a member for additional terms. 
• January 1, 2024- Producers of covered material shall form and join a PRO.
• January 1, 2027- A producer shall not sell, offer for sale, import or distribute covered materials in the state unless the producer is apporved to partivipate in the plan of a PRO that is approved by the department for the soruce reduction, colletion, processing, and recycling of covered material to meet the requirements of this chapter.  
• January 1, 2028- Not less than 30% of covered material will be recycled.
• January 1, 2030- Not less than 40% of covered materail will be recycled.
• January 1, 2032- Not less than 65% of covered material will be recycled.

Compliance Concerns

• Covers the entire plastic supply chain sold in the state.
• Includes a required fee for non-compliance with the PRO plan.
• Need to engage with the PRO to determine what full compliance will look like based on the PRO plan and budget.
• Potential for multiple PROs.

Penalty/Fines

The department may issue a notice of violation to, and impose an administrative civil penalty not to exceed $50,000 per day per violation on, any entity not in compliance with this chapter. There is an exception for smaller producers that limits the fine to $25,000 per day per violation.

Fee Structure

Rulemaking around fees has restarted.

Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act

SB 54

Date of Enactment: 6/30/2022

Products Covered

• Single-use packaging that is routinely recycled, disposed of, or discarded after its contents have been used or unpackaged, and typically not refilled or otherwise reused by the producer.
• Plastic single-use food service ware, including, but not limited to, plastic-coated paper or plastic-coated paperboard, paper or paperboard with plastic intentionally added during the manufacturing process, and multilayer flexible material. For purposes of this subparagraph, “single-use food service ware” includes both of the following:

Product Exemptions

• Packinging used for medical products, drugs, animal drugs and medical products, infant formula, medical food, fortified oral nutritional supplements.
• Packaging used to contain products regulated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
• Plastic packaging containers that are used to contain or ship products that are classified for dangerous, hazardous, or flammable materials.
• Beverage containers subject to the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.
• Packaging used for the long-term protection or storage of a product that has a lifespan of not less than five years, as determined by the department.
• Packaging associated with products covered under the architectural paint recovery program
• Covered material for which the producer demonstrates the material is not collected through a residential recycling collection service, the material dows not undergo separation at a commingled recycling facility, the material.

Producer Definition

“Producer” means: 

• A person who manufactures a product that uses covered material and who owns or is the licensee of the brand or trademark under which the product is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state.
• If there is no person in the state who is the producer for purposes of paragraph (1), the producer of the covered material is the owner or, if the owner is not in the state, the exclusive licensee of a brand or trademark under which the product using the covered material is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state. For purposes of this subdivision, a licensee is a person holding the exclusive right to use a trademark or brand in the state in connection with the manufacture, sale, or distribution of the product packaged in or made from the covered material.
• If there is no person in the state who is the producer for purposes of paragraph (1) or (2), the producer of the covered material is the person who sells, offers for sale, or distributes the product that uses the covered material in or into the state.
• Producer” does not include a person who produces, harvests, and packages an agricultural commodity on the site where the agricultural commodity was.

Producer Exclusions

• Packaging used for medical products, drugs, animal drugs and medical products, infant formula, medical food, fortified oral nutritional supplements.
• Packaging used to contain products regulated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
• Plastic packaging containers that are used to contain or ship products that are classified for dangerous, hazardous, or flammable materials.
• Beverage containers subject to the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.
• Packaging used for the long-term protection or storage of a product that has a lifespan of not less than five years, as determined by the department.
• Packaging associated with products covered under the architectural paint recovery program
• Covered material for which the producer demonstrates the material is not collected through a residential recycling collection service, the material dows not undergo separation at a commingled recycling facility, the material.

Recycling Definition

“Recycle” or “recycling” means the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise ultimately be disposed of onto land or into water or the atmosphere, and returning them to, or maintaining them within, the economic mainstream in the form of recovered material for new, reused, or reconstituted products, including compost, that meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace.

“Recycle” or “recycling” does not include any of the following:

• Combustion
• Incineration
• Energy generation
• Fuel production, except for anaerobic digestion of source separated organic materials
• Other forms of disposal.

To be considered recycled, covered material shall be sent to a responsible end market.

• The department may adopt regulations to define guidelines and verification requirements for covered material shipped out of state and exported to other countries for recycling, including processing requirements, and contamination standards, or to otherwise implement this paragraph.
• For any mixture of plastic waste exported to another country, the PRO or producer shall certify to the department that the processes and recycling technologies used meet both of the following requirements, as determined by the department:
• The plastic waste is a mixture of plastic types consisting only of one or more of polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyethylene terephthalate, and the export is destined for separate recycling of each material.
• The plastic waste export is not prohibited by an applicable law or treaty of the destination jurisdiction, and the import of the plastic waste into the destination jurisdiction will be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and treaties of that destination jurisdiction.
• For any mixture of plastic waste exported to other states or countries, the PRO or producer shall certify to the department that the recycling technology used meets the requirements of this subdivision.
• In meeting the requirements of subparagraphs (B) and (C), the PRO or producer shall provide documentation necessary to verify this certification and shall make the certification under penalty of perjury.
• The department’s regulations shall encourage recycling that minimizes generation of hazardous waste, generation of greenhouse gases, environmental impacts, environmental justice impacts, and public health impacts. The regulations shall include criteria to exclude plastic recycling technologies that produce significant amounts of hazardous waste.”material is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state. For purposes of this subdivision, a licensee is a person holding the exclusive right to use a trademark or brand in the state in connection with the manufacture, sale, or distribution of the product packaged in or made from the covered material.